About the craftsman

I always wanted to make things

Starting at Christmas, 1987, I wanted a “power dreel” as my mother fondly recalls. Like most children, over the years my passions waxed and waned, my ideas about what to do when I “grew up” changed again and again. From “construction man” to trash man to attorney (seriously, from second through fourth grade I really wanted to be a lawyer) to Navy SEAL to Broadway actor and finally (or so I thought) to hospitality professional. By the tender age of sixteen I was a full-time cook, lucky enough to have the executive chef of Indian Hills Country Club in Mission Hills, KS take a chance on a kid with big dreams and a decent work ethic. Over the years in hospitality I worked as a cook, dishwasher, vegetable scrubber, potato peeler, pastry cook, Culinary Arts Teaching Assistant at the Denver campus of Johnson & Wales University and finally sommelier and wine director; roles I occupied for more than ten years at various wonderful Denver restaurants.

So how did I go from a guy wearing a suit every day to work; tasting and evaluating thousands of wines a year to a guy in sawdust-covered overalls? The shortest answer to that question is that I spent several years studying for and attempting the Master Sommelier exam. I didn’t pass. And after a couple of tries realized that I probably never would. Some people have it, some people don’t. Seemed like I didn’t. So I left the business entirely; disgusted with restaurants, with the wine business, with my self. I started SGO Works (the “SGO” part stands for “Some Guy in Overalls”, long story there) as a general handyman business serving restaurants and bars. Hospitality businesses have unique maintenance needs and keep strange hours. I knew both and a business was born.

But the project that put me where I am today was being asked by the owners of renowned cocktail bar Williams & Graham to build them some new tables. These simple and elegant pieces made from an amalgamation of red oak, plywood and black steel pipe set me on a course that would change everything. They’re still where I left them, too. Years later I'm lucky enough to be a full-time woodworker operating out of a shop in my back yard that I designed and built with my own two hands. And out of that shop have come so many cool things; the interior of a thirty-four foot-long sailboat, a black walnut master closet suite, custom chairs, tables, built-ins, even a set of queen size bunk beds for a client’s ski home in Keystone, CO.

Outside of making sawdust, I’m lucky to be married to a beautiful and talented woman. My lovely wife, Morgan, is a landscape horticulturist who works in the non-profit sector renewing and expanding Denver’s urban forest with The Park People. Growing up in Kansas City I loved duck hunting and continue to enjoy it here on the Colorado plains with our English-style Chocolate rescue Lab, Liebe and her yellow sister , Beasly. We also spend a great deal of time entertaining, gardening, cooking and endlessly remodeling our East Denver home.